


Like Winning the Lottery

by DragonBandit



Category: Kaleidotrope (Podcast)
Genre: Egg Baby, Eggs, Fluff, Future Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-12
Updated: 2020-01-12
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:53:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22232842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DragonBandit/pseuds/DragonBandit
Summary: "Harrison," Drew asks, "Why is there an egg in our closet?"
Relationships: Drew/Harrison (Kaleidotrope)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 29
Collections: Chocolate Box - Round 5





	Like Winning the Lottery

**Author's Note:**

  * For [WritingOnTheWalls](https://archiveofourown.org/users/WritingOnTheWalls/gifts).



> Thank you so, so much for requesting this fandom. I hope you like it. 💝🥚💌

Harrison has been acting very strange lately. Drew tries not to be too worried about it, but it’s been five years since he’s known Harrison—most of that time in a very serious, committed relationship with him—and he likes to think that he understands his boyfriend at least half of the time. So when he comes home from work to find Harrison hurriedly closing several tabs on his computer when Drew looks over his shoulder, or inexplicably stealing all the shirts and towels out of the laundry before Drew has a chance to wash them, or holing up in his office in the middle of the night, it does make him a bit concerned. Only a bit because if Harrison is anything, he’s always been beyond Drew’s understanding. He likes it, loves it really, but it does cause a bit of an issue when he’s late for work and his hair is dripping rapidly cooling water down the back of his neck and he can’t find a single one of their towels.

“Harrison?” Drew calls from the landing. There’s no reply. Not surprising. When Harrison can he sleeps in, which is often this year since grad school has gifted him with late mornings for all his classes except Thursdays. Drew isn’t so fortunate. His time slots on the radio range from disgustingly early to something approaching a normal time for a human to be functional at. Today is thankfully the latter. He’s allowed to be up at 7 in the morning, instead of approaching 4.

He pulls on his bathrobe to protect his modesty from whatever open windows there might be between the bathroom and wherever Harrison is. He pops his head around the door to their bedroom, double checking that he hasn’t mistaken Harrison as the lump of duvet and quilt on their unmade bed. However for once there is no erstwhile boyfriend in this room. Nor is there one in the kitchen, or the living room. That only leaves one last room of their little flat. The linen cupboard is in the office. Really Harrison’s office because Drew does most of his work lurking at library’s and various hole in the wall coffee shops where he can people watch while he writes. As such, Harrison’s made it into a bit of a nest. Their flat is so small that Drew tends to think of it as being Harrison’s space, and thus he tries to maintain the illusion of privacy.

“Harrison!” Drew yells again. “Harrison, I really need a towel. I don’t want to go to work with wet hair. I know no one can see me from behind a microphone but it is absolutely freezing outside today. Did you see the forecast? I’ll end up with icicles all over me.”

There’s no reply.

He knocks on the study door again. “Harrison? Are you in there? Is everything okay?”

He presses his ear up against the door. This time he hears something: A soft humming in a tune that Drew recognises vaguely as either the start of a song, or the jingle to his radio show. His eyebrows quirk, and he once again tries to call Harrison through the door. No answer. Maybe it’s just that Harrison can’t hear him? Sometimes he turns up the music on his headphones infernally loud or gets in the zone to the extent where the outside ceases to exist. Usually that happens more in the evenings than early mornings though. In the mornings when the two of them are awake at the same time, Harrison tries to make it a point to spend time with Drew. Unless he’s got a very pressing deadline, or really doesn’t want to get out of bed.

Drew knocks once more, before he opens the door.

The office is small and cramped, barely big enough for the desk, bookshelf and printer table crammed into the tiny space. Most of what would be floorspace is taken up by a cupboard set into the wall of the room that hangs over the stairs of their flat. Harrison’s lower half is sticking out of said cupboard. Drew admires the view for a second. Harrison is wearing sweatpants that cling, just a little. Drew’s lips pull into a smile, watching Harrison wiggle slightly as he dances to his own humming.

But he is late for work so he doesn’t admire for long. A shame really.

“What are you doing in there?” Drew asks. He smooths a hand down Harrison’s shoulder, trying to get a peek of whatever it is that Harrison has. All the towels perhaps? Some sort of secret workshop? Could be anything.

Harrison jolts at the touch, banging his head on the shelf above him with a sharp yelp. “Drew! You can’t just sneak up on someone!”

“I’ve been calling you for the past few minutes.”

“Oh,” Harrison has the decency to look a little chagrined. “I didn’t hear you.”

“I noticed that. What is it that has you so secretive all of a sudden?” He tries to peer past Harrison. For possibly the first time in their entire lives, Harrison gets in the way of him finding out. He puts himself bodily between Drew and the open cupboard door.

“It’s nothing!” he says frantically. “Nothing you need to worry about right now! I promise.”

“Well, that’s very reassuring,” Drew says. He tries once again to peer over Harrison’s shoulder. He’s taller, but the shelf of the closet gets in the way, casting Harrison’s secret in shadow. “I haven’t forgotten a birthday have I? Our anniversary isn’t for another two months. Surely you haven’t gotten me something already.”

“No, no. Nothing at all. You haven’t forgotten anything.”

“Well, what is it then? You’re horrible at keeping secrets.”

“Like you are, Mr. Confessed my secret identity in front of the entire school?” Harrison teases.

“That’s entirely different,” Drew protests. Harrison beams at him, his eyes curved up into crescents. Drew really wants to stay here, tease Harrison more, maybe pull him into a long lingering kiss because early morning radio means that he also goes to bed disgustingly early. It’s not so that they never see each other, but he certainly doesn’t get to see Harrison when both of them are functioning human beings as much as he’d like. “I really need a towel,” he says, half an apology as he ducks around Harrison. There, right where he’d thought they’d be, all arranged around…

“Harrison,” Drew says, “why is there an egg in our linen closet?”

It’s roughly the size of an ostritch egg, off white and mottled slightly with little coloured speckles that look a bit like freckles and a bit like specks of glitter. Around it are all the towels in the flat, along with some of Drew’s shirts and Harrison’s pyjamas. When he turns to look back at Harrison his boyfriend’s face is stricken, eyes large and watery, his mouth twisted into a grimace.

“I can explain…” Harrison says.

Drew ends up calling work to tell them that he isn’t going to make it in today. Terribly sorry, family emergency. He’ll take the shift of whoever needs to cover him, it won’t happen again. The station likes him, thankfully, so there aren’t too many questions. He and Harrison relocate to the bedroom, the office isn’t big enough for both of them. Harrison sits cross-legged, the egg and a few blankets held carefully in his arms. He won’t meet Drew’s eyes. Drew gives up on ever getting his hair dry, and pulls on some clothes under his robe. Harrison doesn’t even try to take a peek.

He sits next to Harrison, mattress dipping under his weight. “Harrison,” he says, soft, “What’s wrong?”

“Do you remember V?” Harrison says, eyes firmly staring downwards. “The teenage Veela we gave advice to on our show?”

“Yes,” Drew says slowly, “what does that have to do with this?”

Harrison huffs out of breath, one hand rubbing circles into the shell of the egg in his lap, “Then, you know how some people are human and some people aren’t. Even if they look it. Well, I’m not actually human.”

Drew stares at him. “What?”

“I didn’t think it would ever come up. In most ways I’m just as human as you are, I don’t have pheromones, or any kind of magic, I don’t even have any weird allergies! I just have…” Harrison trails off, he hugs the egg closer to himself. Drew reaches out and places a hand on Harrison’s knee.

“Just have what?” He prompts.

“You’re not going to believe me. Going to be all Drew-ey about it,” Harrison says, stalling for time and being obvious about it. Drew just waits out of the two of them Harrison is the one who can’t stand silences. Harrison squirms under his gaze. But he looks up eventually, leaning into Drew a bit. “I have a thing, that happens when I love somebody. It doesn’t happen very often. Most of the time my people don’t talk about it because it’s a bit like talking about what you’ll do when you win the lottery or getting rabies or you know… It’s rare, special, really. I wasn’t expecting it. When it happened it was a real surprise, and I wasn’t sure what you’d say. But. Oh. When two people love each other very much, and one of them is like me, sometimes that love turns into… someone else. Someone new.”

It takes Drew a moment to put it all together. A lot of him is busy reeling at the fact that not only is Harrison part of a separate species entirely, he’s managed to keep that fact a secret. He looks at Harrison, taking in once again Harrison’s slightly perpetual smile, his watery eyes, the flush traveling up his soft cheeks. and then at the egg, white and mottled and in the sunlight he can see that those are definitely iridescent speckles on the shell. Back at Harrison, looking at Drew earnestly. And then all of a sudden it hits Drew all at once and his heart tips upside down. For a moment he doesn’t think he can breathe. He coughs, clears his throat. Staring at the egg.

“I… Is that… Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

“Yeah.” Harrison says. Tears welling at the corners of his eyes. Drew can feel his mouth quirk up in response, his head shaking. There’s a huge hole in his chest filled with some unspeakable emotion that might be love. He puts a hand on the egg, around Harrison’s own, wondering if he’ll be able to feel something from the inside. It’s warm, the shell smooth under his touch.

“You’re serious?”

“Mmm hmm.”

“We’re going to be Dads.” Drew says. Breathless with the realization. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I don’t know! We’ve never talked about kids before! I didn’t know if you wanted them or not, and then I wasn’t sure if the egg would be okay. I’ve never looked after one before, you know and all pregnancies are so risky. I didn’t want you to be upset if something went wrong oh…”

Drew kisses him. He murmurs, “You’re ridiculous. Of course I’d want to know that you were—pregnant? …Gravid?” His nose wrinkles as soon as he finishes saying the word.

“Broody,” Harrison corrects with a little giggle. He collapses against Drew’s side, ever so careful of the precious bundle in his lap and Drew understands so completely his heart lurches. Drew gathers Harrison up in his arms, pressing kisses to his cheeks, his temples, his mouth. Everywhere he can reach. Until Harrison’s squirming, giggles turned into full blown laughter.

“I love you,” Drew says, “God, I don’t know anything about this. You need to tell me everything. When is it going to hatch? Can you tell if it’s going to be a girl or a boy yet? Do we need to do anything special? Is it even going to look like a human baby when it comes out?”

“About a year, no on the gender front, and yes. It’ll look like a human baby. Exactly like a human baby.” Harrison says through kisses.

Drew draws back from him, to look at the egg, at Harrison. “We’re going to have to get a bigger flat,” he says. “Do you think they’ll like me? What are we going to do for clothes, or toys? We’re going to have to think of names!”

Harrison is smiling at him, lovestruck and perfect. “I did have some idea on that front,” Harrison says.

“Of course you have. Tell me. Who are they?”

“I was thinking for a middle name, Khaleesi would be nice?”

Drew bursts into laughter, and he doesn’t stop. “That’s perfect,” He says, “absolutely perfect.” He kisses Harrison again for good measure, his hand gentle on the shell of the egg as he tips Harrison back onto the mattress, straddling Harrison’s legs so they can cuddle. He kisses the egg too, “Will they be able to hear me?”

“The eggshell’s porous,” Harrison says. “I’ve been singing to them.”

“Hello then, Khaleesi,” Drew says to the egg. “I can’t wait to meet you.”


End file.
